bah bah black sheep wheretheheckdidyougo

As far as Tyrian was concerned Tashi could stay gone until the lamb was back. The yearling didn't know if he could stand looking at the monkey's squashed, bug-eyed little face right now knowing his expensive, undoubtedly tasty, little morsel was running around the west just asking to be eaten. He knew how he'd feel about the little lamb if he ran across it. It was a well insulated mobile meal and he would have pounced on it in a heartbeat. "The monkey can stay gone," he told her firmly. "And I would appreciate your help."

Ah, so she wanted a trade. Fair enough, he could do that. "Yeah, no problem." He thought for a second, trying to mentally find the best place to look for such a thing before he physically went after it. It would be better to have a game plan than to just wander around all willy nilly in the hopes of stumbling across something that fit her criteria. After a beat he nodded slowly to himself and then sought out Poem's gaze. "I think I know just the place to look. How's about we go our separate ways and then meet back here when we've got the goods?" Confident she would agree, he was already turning to go when he added, "I'll be back in a flash!"

----

The boy had been thoroughly clawed to ribbons, but he came back victorious. A squalling caracal kitten flailed around in a bag that hung from his jaws. He hoped it was good enough. It didn't look like much to him, but it fit her criteria. It was young, it was a predator and it had sharp teeth. As for trainability he could make no comment on that. His experience with cats was limited to Zahir and Alarr's little cat, both of whom were bossy teacher-y types. And Zahir at least was resistant to teaching.

Tyrian set the bag down gently and carefully pinned the drawn-shut opening to the ground so the little captive could neither run away with the bag or work it open and flee. He hoped Poem had found his sheep in one uneaten piece. Though he certainly wasn't going to waste tears on something like that, he would be royally pissed if it was dead. Not at whatever had eaten it, no, but at Tashi who had bragged since they'd met about how his clan tended flocks and about how he'd grown up caring for animals like this one. And then promptly lost the very first sheep Tyrian had given him to watch.

WC: 335